The present invention relates safety harnesses, and in particular, safety harnesses for use with a firefighter's turnout coat and bunker pants.
Firefighters typically wear protective clothing comprising a lined turnout coat and lined bunker pants, often referred to collectively as turnout gear. Such clothing is made of fire retardant and protective material, and is designed to ensure the safety of the firefighter.
Firefighters also use equipment such as a safety harness. Typical safety harnesses come in either the Class II or Class III variety, Class II harnesses being used when there are only limited fall hazards while Class III harnesses are designed to arrest the most severe free falls. The vast majority of these harnesses are worn externally.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,567 provides one elegant solution to mitigate some of the drawbacks of an external harness. As taught in the '567 Patent, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, a safety harness is combined with turnout gear to provide an internal safety harness, sandwiched securely between the liner and outer shell (jacket and pants) of the turnout gear. This arrangement is desirable because what would conventionally be installed external to the turnout gear could now be installed internally. Another benefit is that the internal harness is donned automatically with the turnout gear, thus being quickly and easily worn by a firefighter in the emergency situations typical in the firefighting field, ensuring that a firefighter would always be totally prepared with a safety harness on his or her everyday turnout gear. Another advantage is increased durability and security of the harness since a majority of the harness is hidden and protected by the outer gear and not exposed to potential objects that could interfere with the harness or the free movement of the firefighter, or which could damage the harness over time. Nor is the majority of the harness exposed to hostile environments.
Despite the advances of the '567 patent, many firefighters still rely on the traditional Class II harness worn externally even if it does not offer the best level of protection available (versus, for example, severe fall risks), is difficult to wear, and catches on objects in the firefighting arena. While some firefighters do wear Class III harnesses, most do not despite their clear safety advantage.
The present disclosure provides for a harness system with qualities that far surpass the Class II and even the Class III conventional harnesses while also building on the teachings of the '567 patent to provide additional improvements.